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Great athletes who retired too early (10 Photos)

Barry Sanders
One of the greatest backs in history hung it up after his 10th season with the Detroit Lions. Sanders would have shattered almost every NFL record, but he got out early, he got out healthy, and thanks to the Lions carousel of terrible QBs, he got out without a ring.

2

Jim Brown
Brown put up one less season than Sanders did, but still posted 106 touchdowns on the ground and 12,000+ yards. And since he took off in 1965, the only Cleveland Brown that could even come close to Jim’s legacy was Bernie Kosar.

3

Michael Jordan (First Retirement)
MJ’s emotional exit in 1993 shook all of basketball, and his immediate interest in being a baseball player was even stranger. Conspiracy theorists will tell you that MJ was asked by the commish to take a suspension for betting on basketball quietly, but only Jordan’s bookies know the answer to that. His second retirement after the three-peat was perfectly timed, but that third one was just a little overdue.

4

Sandy Koufax
Koufax tossed three no-hitters and one perfect game in his 12 short seasons with the Dodgers, but at only 30 years old the all-time great was forced out of the game by arthritis.

5

Rocky Marciano
The Brockton Blockbuster competed until he was 32 years old, with a professional record of 49-0 and a title that he defended six times. Yeah, he proved what he had to.

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6

Tiki Barber
Barber spent 10 year in the NFL, all of them with the Giants, before hanging up his cleats without a ring. He drew the ire of his former fanbase though, when he made some comments about his old team, and specifically Eli Manning, who responded by winning a ring the year after Barber left.

7

Bobby Orr
One of the greatest to ever take the ice, Orr had to end his stellar career at the age of thirty due to nagging injuries in his left knee.

8

Bo Jackson
The best multi-sport athlete in history had to retire from one of them (football) due to a hip injury that required a hip replacement at 29. He was somehow able to return to baseball for a few seasons, and even took a shot at playing pro basketball, but Bo knew he had to end his career at 32.

9

Bjorn Borg
With 15 majors to his name and a promising career ahead of him, Borg called it quits at the age of 26. Some of the best, including John McEnroe, tried to convince him to stay, but the explosive player wouldn’t return (besides a brief comeback in the mid 80’s that was largely unsuccessful).

10

Ken Dryden
Although he only played seven short seasons, he still cemented his place as one of the games best goalies. Dryden went an incredible 258-57 in his career and won the Vezina trophy five times, the Calder, the Conn Smythe, and eventually a Hall of Fame spot.

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